A developer container of a developing device has a toner collection portion having a collection container, a toner receiving member, a stopping member, and a toner collection passage. The collection container is arranged under a developing roller, extends along the axial direction of the rotary shaft of the developing roller, and has an opening open upward to face the developing roller. The toner receiving member is supported on the collection container, and has a swing portion protruding inward from an inner surface of the collection container and receiving toner that falls from the developing roller. The stopping member is supported on the collection container, and prevents, by the swing portion making contact with the stopping member from below, the swing portion from being displaced upward. The toner collection passage is arranged in a bottom part of the collection container, and communicates with the interior of the developer container.

A developing device includes a developer bearer, a developer regulator disposed opposite the developer bearer across a first gap, and an opposing member having an opposing face disposed opposing the developer bearer across a second gap wider than the first gap. The opposing face is disposed adjacent to and upstream from the developer regulator in a direction of rotation of the developer bearer. The opposing face is inclined relative to an orthogonal plane direction orthogonal to a side face of the developer regulator. The opposing face is inclined to progressively reduce a distance from the developer bearer to the opposing face in a direction of rotation of the developer bearer. A difference between the second gap and the first gap is not greater than 1.75 times as large as the first gap.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member on which a latent image is formed, a developer carrying member for developing the latent image, and an electroconductive regulating member for regulating a layer thickness of the developer in contact with the developer carrying member. A voltage source applies, to the electroconductive regulating member, a voltage of the same polarity as a polarity of the developer on a surface of the developer carrying member at least during a developing operation. The developer remaining on the surface of the image bearing member, after a developer image formed on the image bearing member is transferred, is collected by the developer carrying member. At a time when the developer carrying member is driven in a period other than during the developing operation, a potential difference between the electroconductive regulating member and the developer carrying member is made zero or a voltage which is different toward a side of a polarity opposite the polarity of the developer from a voltage applied to the developer carrying member is applied to the electroconductive regulating member.

A developing device includes a transporting member that transports a developer in an axial direction while rotating, a developing unit that hands over the developer to an image holder, on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, while rotating, and develops the electrostatic latent image, a pumping unit that has a rotation member rotating in a circumferential direction, pumps the developer transported by the transporting member with a magnetic force, and supplies the pumped developer to the developing unit by releasing the developer in a tangential direction of the rotating rotation member, and a changing unit that changes a flowing direction of the developer, which is released in the tangential direction of the rotating rotation member and is to be supplied to the developing unit.

A developer supply container and an electrophotography imaging apparatus using the developer supply container, relating to the field of electronic imaging apparatuses. The developer supply container comprising an accommodating cylinder and a feeding member is provided in the accommodating cylinder, wherein an outer surface of the accommodating cylinder is provided with a driving receiving portion. The developer supply container is further provided with a housing located at an end of the accommodating cylinder, the housing is provided with a powder outlet. A first storage portion is provided at an end of the feeding member close to the housing, a second storage portion in communication with the first storage portion is provided in the housing, the second storage portion is in communication with the powder outlet, and the second storage portion is provided with a stirring device therein.

A development device including: a developer bearing; a regulation portion; a magnetic field generation member that is provided inside of the developer bearing member, the magnetic field generation member having: a development pole; a first magnetic pole; and a second magnetic pole; wherein the magnetic field generation member has a region satisfying |(Br(θa)−Br(θc))/10|<0.3, wherein Br(θa) is a magnetic flux density in a normal direction relative to the surface of the developer bearing member on a position shifted by −5° from a point nearest to the regulation portion on the developer bearing member around a center of the developer bearing member, and Br(θc) is the magnetic flux density around the developer bearing member on a position shifted by +5° from the point nearest to the regulation portion on the developer bearing member.

An example lubricant applying device includes a rotatable applicator, a solid lubricant source to supply lubricant to the applicator, an urging member to urge the lubricant source to contact the applicator, and a guide member to restrict an urging of the lubricant source along a displacement direction. In a transverse cross section of the lubricant applying device that is taken orthogonally to a rotation axis of the applicator, a reference line extends from a contact surface of the lubricant source to the rotation axis of the applicator, in a direction parallel to the displacement direction of the guide member. In the transverse cross section, the lubricant source has a width that is substantially orthogonal to the displacement direction. The lubricant source is positioned to offset a widthwise center of the lubricant source to a downstream side of the reference line, in the rotational direction of the applicator.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, an exposure device configured to expose the image bearing member to form an electrostatic latent image thereon, and a developing device including a rotatable developing member configured to carry and feed a developer containing toner and a carrier to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing member, and a magnet provided non-rotatably and stationarily inside the rotatable developing member including a developing magnetic pole, wherein magnetic chains formed by the carrier, on the rotatable developing member, magnetized by the magnet contact the electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing member in a developing region of the rotatable developing member, wherein a maximum peak position where a magnetic flux density of the developing magnetic pole is maximum with respect to a normal direction of the rotatable developing member exists within a range of the developing region with respect to a rotational direction of the rotatable developing member, and wherein a ratio of an 80%-value-width which is a width of a portion where the magnetic flux density of the developing magnetic pole with respect to the normal direction of the rotatable developing member is 80% of the maximum of the magnetic flux density of the developing magnetic pole with respect to the normal direction of the rotatable developing member to a half peak width which is a width of a portion where the magnetic flux density of the developing magnetic pole with respect to the normal direction of the rotatable developing member is half of the maximum of the magnetic flux density of the developing magnetic pole with respect to the normal direction of the rotatable developing member is 0.65 or more.

A developing agent filling device includes a jig retaining a developing device with a filling inlet oriented upward, the developing device including a stirring chamber, a bladed wheel that stirs a developing agent stored in the stirring chamber, a developing roller that retains the developing agent stirred by the bladed wheel, the filling inlet located at an end portion of the stirring chamber in an axial direction of the bladed wheel and opened in the axial direction, a support member supporting a shaft of the bladed wheel inside of the filling inlet, a regulation blade opposed to an outer circumferential surface of the developing roller, and a biasing member that presses the regulation blade against the developing roller, a pressure relief device that releases the developing roller from a pressure of the regulation blade, against the biasing member, and a vibration generating device that vibrates the developing device.

A developing device includes a regulating member fixed to a frame at one end thereof and including a contact portion which contacts a developer carrying member. The contact portion includes a first region positioned upstream of a reference position and a second region positioned downstream of the reference position in a rotational direction of the developer carrying member. A length of the second region is longer than a length of the first region in a position corresponding to a contact nip with respect to a direction from a fixed end of the regulating member toward the other end as a free end of the regulating member, and the contact portion has a surface roughness smaller in the first region than in the second region, with the surface roughness in the second region being 20% or less of an average particle size of toner particles contained in a developer.